VIENNA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Austria saw its budget deficit surge to 13.76 billion euros (14.85 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half (H1) of 2024, more than double the deficit of 6.39 billion euros in H1 2023, the country's finance ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said the rising deficit was mainly due to expenditure, which increased 14.3 percent year on year to 59.7 billion euros during the period. The country spent significantly more money on paying pensions and providing subsidies for renewable energy deployment.
While the opposition parties called the increasing deficit a "budget disaster," the finance ministry told Austrian news agency APA that it was "no surprise," considering the measures adopted in the past to combat the country's various crises. (1 euro = 1.08 U.S. dollar)
